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I love my paddling buddies more than – well, just about anything. Paddlers in general warm my heart, even if they’re just strangers passing by with boats on their car on the way to the river. They’re wonderful in so many ways – generous, free-spirited, courageous, irreverent, hilarious – much like Mary Poppins [...]

The setup: After getting my pool roll fairly solid, one of the people who had helped me get it that way, Samantha Ruppelt, posted on Facebook that she was doing a beginning creeking clinic. She didn’t specify which river. I contacted her and told her I was interested in joining, if she thought I was [...]

“It’s the rule.” That’s what she said. Samantha Ruppelt, Class V kayaker pro for Jackson Kayak, twenty-seven – confidence and competence, personified. “Dude. It’s January. It’s, like, 30 degrees out there.” “It’s the rule.” “What if I miss it? My confidence will be blown for the entire run. I don’t need that in my head.” “It’s the rule.” Samantha had been [...]